The present invention relates to a leveling auger for a combine grain hopper that has folding extension walls on the top of the standard hopper side walls. The auger will fold down when needed for clearance, when the extension walls on the hopper are folded down. The auger is operated only at times when the level of grain in the hopper has reached a preselected height.
In the prior art, various augers for filling and moving grain in combine hoppers have been advanced. Combine hopper top fill augers may have sections that extend partially, or all the way across the upper portions of the grain hopper. These augers are fixed in position, and are filling augers. When extension walls are put into place on a hopper, as is now more and more common, the fill augers are not effective to fill grain to the raised height of the hopper and across the hopper.
Also, top cross augers have been utilized at the top of cotton boxes for compacting cotton, and at the same time moving the cotton across the width of the box or hopper.
Grain hoppers that have folding side extension walls for increasing the height and capacity of the production hopper have been used, and one form is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,064. The extension walls shown in this patent are mounted so that they can be pivoted to be raised and lowered. The lowering of the extension walls is necessary for clearance purposes, since the combines are quite high and are designed to go under existing standard underpasses and through doors for storage sheds that are made so that they will clear standard combine grain hoppers. When the extension walls are in place they have to be folded to provide the original lower profile for transport and storage. With the extensions raised, there may not be enough clearance. Thus, having a leveling auger fixed in position at the level of the top of the side wall extensions is not satisfactory.